


Getting Caught Up In A Moment

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Series: 100 Ways To Tell Someone You Love Them [2]
Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Spin the Bottle, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:30:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: In which, they go to a party and things don't end the way Moritz expects them to.(100 ways to tell someone you love them #2 - "Is this ok?")





	Getting Caught Up In A Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! It's been a hot minute since I wrote these two but here's the newest fic I have for them. The title is from So It Goes by Taylor Swift and this is for Hannah.

If there was one thing that Moritz was consistently certain about it was that he hated parties. He tried to avoid them the best he could but he usually ended up at a handful of them, much to his discomfort. He wasn’t sure why this supposed to be enjoyable for anyone. The music was far too loud to hold any sort of conversation unless you wanted to yell at someone, there were always far too many people for whoever’s house it was this time, and most of those people were drunk. Really there was no redeeming factor for parties. Except for the fact that Melchior liked them, and Moritz would do pretty much anything to make Melchior happy. This party was no different. The two of them showed up. Melchior found them some drinks and stayed with him long enough that Moritz was starting to feel a bit guilty. 

“You should go,” he said, having to lean incredibly close to Melchior so that he could hear him.

“Are you sure?”

Moritz nodded. “Go. Dance. Whatever.”

Melchior looked at him for a moment. Moritz could tell that he was practically accessing him, seeing if he was lying. It was something he did a lot. “Are you going to be ok?” he asked.

He didn’t really know the answer to that but he nodded anyway. “I’ll go find Ilse or something.”

Melchior smiled at him, rested a hand on his shoulder. “If you need anything, come and find me. Ok? If you need to go home or something, just let me know.”

Moritz nodded and watched as Melchior disappeared in the large mass of people. He tried to ignore how much colder he felt now. He looked down at the drink in his hand. He’d barely had any of it. He really hated the taste. He really didn’t want getting drunk to be his only option. He looked around him, tried to see if he could spot any of his friends but there were far too many people in the room. He felt himself starting to panic before he could stop himself. He couldn’t even remember whose house they were in. He swallowed, tried to calm himself down and told himself that he needed to find the kitchen. He needed to get some water. That would help. 

He managed to find the kitchen and was more than grateful that he also managed to find Wendla in the process. She was leaning against the counter next to the sink, a glass of water in her hands already. She beamed at him when she saw him.

“Hey!” she called. The music wasn’t as loud in here but it was loud enough that they needed to talk above their normal level. 

“Hey,” he muttered, coming to stand next to her, placing the can of whatever he’d been holding down.

She offered him her glass and he took it, twisting his hands around it.

“Are you ok?” she asked. “Melchi didn’t leave you by yourself, did he?” 

Moritz shook his head. “I didn’t want to keep him. I want him to have fun, you know?”

Wendla smiled at that. “He can have fun and still be with you,” she teased.

Moritz shrugged. “It seemed wrong.”

He could feel Wendla’s eyes on him and he had no idea what she was looking for. He just knew that she didn’t find it. “Moritz, are you sure you’re ok?” she asked again.

If by ‘ok’ she meant that he was shaky, panicky and nervous as hell then yeah, he was ok. 

“Do you want me to go and find him for you?”

He shook his head. “I’m fine,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about me, Wendla.”

She nodded. “Here, I’ll refill the glass for you.” She held out her hand. 

Moritz waited. He heard the sound of the tap running. Wendla was humming quietly along to whatever song was playing and now he had the feeling that he was keeping her here too. “You can go and dance if you want,” he said.

She just smiled at him, offered him the glass again. “I don’t dance all that much,” she said.

He knew that was a lie. He’d seen her dance at pretty much every party he’d been to. Often with Ilse or Ernst. Or Martha if she managed to make it. She was a good dancer too. “Wendla, I’m ok,” he tried again. 

“You don’t have to hang out by yourself the whole time, you know,” she said. “You’re not keeping me. I can stay here as long as you need.”

Moritz wasn’t sure what to say to that, but Wendla put her hand on his shoulder to add to her point and he felt instantly more relaxed. 

“Just breathe, Moritz. You’ll be ok.”

***

Strangely enough, he was ok. He was ok for what he thought might have been as long as a few hours. Wendla stayed with him for a while. They talked a lot and she kept tapping his shoulder when he was feeling his most panicky (he wondered how she could tell). Then Ernst came and gave him a considerably long and warm hug (which meant that he was just a little bit tipsy) and somehow managed to get both of them to dance. Moritz wasn’t sure how he felt about it all but he thought that maybe it was helping somehow. Eventually, Melchior managed to find him again. He’d had a few more drinks (Moritz guessed two of three), but that just meant that he seemed even happier than usual. 

“Are you ok?” he asked, a hand resting against Moritz’s shoulder.

Moritz was quite happy for every single other person in the room to fade away in that moment. He nodded.

Melchior smiled at him. “Ok, good. I was worried.”

_ Worried _ ? Why had he been worried? Moritz was suddenly aware that even letting Melchior go off on his own wasn’t enough. Somehow just being there was enough for him to hold him back. He didn’t know what to say. 

“Moritz?”

“You don’t have to be worried about me.”

Melchior squeezed his shoulder gently. “I know, Moritz. I just am sometimes.”

Like that didn’t make him feel worse. Fortunately, Moritz didn’t have to think of a response. Someone stopped the music for a second, much to the disappointment of most of the people in the room, and yelled out that they were starting a game of Spin The Bottle. The cheers were drowned out quickly by the music being turned back on. Moritz could feel Melchior’s eyes on him so he turned to look at him.

“Are you going to play?” he asked, because he felt like that was the only logical way to continue this conversation.

Melchior smirked at him for a moment, ran a hand through his hair to push some out of his face. “Are you?”

Moritz considered it. He wasn’t a big fan of games like Spin The Bottle. It could get really messy, especially considering how drunk everyone seemed to be. “Can I sit next to you?” he asked.

Melchior laughed, took his wrist gently and started leading him across the room where a circle was steadily forming. “Next to me, on top of me. Whatever your preference is, Moritz.”

Moritz blinked. That was a weird, not very Melchior thing to say. He shrugged, must have been the alcohol. They reached the circle and Melchior sat down quickly and smiled up at him. Moritz wondered briefly, as he sat next to him, what he  _ wouldn’t  _ do for this boy. 

“Alright, does everyone know the rules?” Moritz didn’t recognise the person that was speaking, and as he looked around the circle he realised that he didn’t recognise many of the people here at all. He felt dread start to settle as the reality of what he was doing faded in. This was an absolutely horrible idea. Then Melchior shifted and their knees were touching and he could breathe again. He looked over, and saw that Melchior was smiling at him.

“Is this ok?” he asked.

Moritz nodded without even thinking. He caught Ilse’s eye across the circle and she winked at him. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad. As everyone took their turn Moritz thought about who he would be ok kissing in this situation. He was very aware that none of this meant anything. The whole point of it was that it was supposed to just be a bit of fun. He just needed to calm down. This was fine. He’d be ok with kissing Ernst, or Wendla, or even Ilse under these circumstances. It would be something they could all laugh off. Something they could use as a funny story. Yeah, this was fine. 

When it finally came to his turn, Moritz had calmed himself down enough to spin the empty wine bottle that was handed to him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noted that his spin was good. He watched as the bottle made it in a whole circle a few times before slowing down. He went through the names of the people he was ok kissing again in his mind. Ernst, Wendla, Ilse, Martha. He’d even kiss Hanschen if he had to though he wasn’t sure how that would go. There was a loud “ohhhhhh!!!” from the group when the bottle finally stopped. Moritz felt his eyes go wide and he swallowed, looking up at the boy next to him. Melchior was smiling. He seemed somehow happy with the turn of events. Moritz hadn’t factored Melchior in to his list. He thought that since they were sitting next to each other he’d have less of a chance of the bottle landing on Melchior. And yet, here he was. Melchior was looking at him and Moritz couldn't breathe. 

Melchior shifted so he was facing him. “Are you ok?” he asked.

_ Am I ever?  _ “You’re kind of drunk,” he said.

“Moritz, I’m not going to kiss you unless you want me to.”

Moritz thought about that. That wasn’t really something Melchior had the power to decide. “It’s the rules.”

Melchior smiled at him. “You’ve known me long enough, Moritz. When have I ever cared about the rules?”

He was right, of course. Moritz thought about it again. He was stalling and he knew it and he knew that everyone else in the circle knew it. Even Melchior, who he could tell was getting just a little bit concerned. He couldn’t think of a good reason not to kiss Melchior. Not one with any substance, at least. In the fact, the more he thought about it the more he realised that he  _ did  _ want to kiss Melchior. Moritz felt like he was on fire and he wasn’t sure if it was in a good way or a bad way. He looked up at Melchior and nodded. 

Moritz hadn’t know what to expect. He’d hadn’t ever thought about what kissing Melchior would feel like before (at least, he’d liked to think he hadn’t), but whatever that might have been, somehow this was different. This wasn’t like the sloppy, drunk, sometimes forced kisses that he’d seen everyone else receive. This was Melchior cupping his face gently with his hand and leaning in so slowly that it was like he was giving Moritz one last chance to pull away. This was so much softer and gentler than he’d ever thought to expect, and yet he knew that he didn’t want it end. When Melchior pulled away he was still smiling, and all Moritz could hear was his heart beating heavily in his chest. He was acutely aware that Melchior left him entirely breathless. He wondered if Melchior could tell. Maybe the way Melchior squeezed his shoulder was supposed to be an indication of that. It was his usual gesture, when he had to remind Moritz to breathe. 

The game continued. For Melchior’s turn, he somehow managed to land on Ilse and the two of them laughed the entire thing off while Wendla jokingly booed them both. Moritz had zoned out entirely by the time the game was over. He couldn’t really remember leaving but he knew that he walked the few blocks to Melchior’s house with him. He knew that Melchior was talking excitedly about something but he couldn’t focus on what he was saying. All he could think about was Melchior’s hand on him and how he sort of needed it again. He couldn’t say anything about that though. That would make things weird. Moritz knew that he couldn’t make things weird. Melchior would probably forget about the whole thing by the morning anway. Yeah, that was probably what would happen. 

***

Moritz didn’t realise how much the kiss would consume his thoughts. It was probably something he should have thought about before he agreed to it, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t expected it to be like that. He was expecting it to be ridiculous just like everyone else’s. He was expecting Melchior to laugh it off just like he had with Ilse, but it hadn’t been like that at all, and now Moritz had to live with the consequences of it being all he thought about. Those consequences, of course, were the way his friends looked at him like they were super worried when he continually zoned out of the conversations he was supposed to be apart of, and the way they constantly asked him if he was ok. The truth was, he didn’t know if he had an answer for them, but he said yes every time regardless. 

It took a few days for it to grate on him enough that he even considered asking Melchior about it. Melchior had given Moritz no indicated that he so much as remembered the kiss, let alone have it affect him in the way it was obviously affecting Moritz. He wondered if Melchior cared about it at all. If it was just another kiss to him. How many people did he kiss like  _ that  _ anyway? Was it everyone? If he hadn’t landed on Ilse for his turn would he have kissed someone else like that too? Moritz didn’t know if he wanted to think about it. All he knew was that he it was starting to drive him crazy. He was walking home with Melchior when he decided to bring it up. The street was quiet, there was no one around. No one would be able to hear them so he wouldn’t have to worry about people  _ knowing  _ things about him that he didn’t want them to. 

“Melchi, I need to ask you something,” he said. It had been entirely quiet for the whole walk and not only was that uncharacteristic of the two of them, but it was starting to grate on Moritz. 

Melchior just shrugged. “You know you can ask me anything.”

Moritz looked up at him for a moment. He wondered just what was going through his head. He wondered if he knew what he was thinking about too. Melchior looked far too casual right now. He swallowed. “Why did you kiss me like that?”

Melchior blinked and it was enough for Moritz to panic because  _ oh god he doesn’t remember and I can’t believe I brought this up _ . “What do you mean?” he asked.

Moritz tried to force his panic back down and have the rest of his conversation like a normal human. “At the party,” he muttered.

Melchior’s eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses and Moritz could tell that he was trying to figure out just what Moritz was asking him. “Moritz, the bottle landed on me so I kissed you. I don’t get what your point is.”

“But why did you kiss me like  _ that _ ?”

Melchior stopped walking. He looked over at Moritz with nothing but confusion. “How else was I supposed to kiss you?”

“I don’t know!” Moritz exclaimed, throwing his hands out wildly. “Awkward and sloppy like everyone else?”

Melchior wasn’t reacting to this the way Moritz had expected he would. He smiled, a hand coming to rest against Moritz’s shoulder gently. “You deserve a better kiss than that.” he said.

Moritz wasn’t sure if it was the words themselves, how soft Melchior had said them, or just his hand resting on his shoulder alone, but suddenly he couldn’t breathe again. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he managed.

Melchior shrugged, squeezed his shoulder.  _ Breathe _ . 

“Melchior, are you trying to tell me something?” Moritz asked, because his heart was starting to race as he tried to make sense of all of this.

He smirked. “Are  _ you _ trying to tell me something?”

Moritz was suddenly aware of just how  _ quickly _ his heart was beating. Far too quickly for it to be normal or healthy and he wondered briefly if he was going to pass out right here on the footpath. The words echoed in his mind and everything felt like it was in slow motion. Was he trying to tell him something? Was he trying to tell himself something? The way that his heart was beating in his chest, the way that he couldn’t breathe, the way he couldn’t stop thinking about how Melchior’s hands felt on him. They all seemed to be indications of  _ something _ . Moritz was moving before he realised it. He tugged on Melchior’s blazer to pull him closer, arched up and crushed their lips together. He was sure that it wouldn’t have been nearly as good for Melchior as it had been last time, but he wasn't thinking. He was just acting. Melchior took less than a second to respond, and Moritz wasn’t even sure if thought that he would have, but Melchior pulled him closer and steadied him and he realised that this was what he’d wanted. This is what he’d wanted since the party. 

When Moritz pulled away he didn’t pull away entirely, just enough that he could breathe a little because that was getting difficult. Melchior laughed, pushed some of Moritz’s hair out of his eyes and just looked at him. Moritz never wanted him to let go again.

“Does that suffice?” he asked, referencing Melchior’s earlier question. 

Melchior nodded, smiled at him. “Suffice is a big word for you,” he teased.

Moritz groaned, rolled his eyes as Melchior laughed at his own joke. “Fuck you,” he muttered. 

Melchior smiled at him, kissed his forehead gently. “Nah, I’m good.”


End file.
